The back of the apartment building is slowing loosing ground to the Pacific Ocean. Residents were ordered to evauate the apartment building at 330 Esplanade Drive in Pacifica, Ca. on Thursday December 17, 2009, as the cliff it is perched upon is slowly eroding leaving only 10 feet of land between the ocean.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

The back of the apartment building is slowing loosing ground to the...

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Apartments are emptied of belongings after residents were ordered to evauate the apartment building at 330 Esplanade Drive in Pacifica, Ca. on Thursday December 17, 2009, as the cliff it is perched upon is slowly eroding leaving only 10 feet of land between the ocean and the structure.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

Apartments are emptied of belongings after residents were ordered...

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Residents were ordered to evauate the apartment building at 330 Esplanade Drive in Pacifica, Ca. on Thursday December 17, 2009, as the cliff it is perched upon is slowly eroding leaving only 10 feet of land between the ocean and the structure.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

Residents were ordered to evauate the apartment building at 330...

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Tom Miyasato of Pacifica stops to take a photo after residents were ordered to evauate the apartment building at 330 Esplanade Drive inPacifica, Ca. on Thursday December 17, 2009, as the cliff it is perched upon is slowly eroding leaving only 10 feet of land between the ocean and the structure.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

Tom Miyasato of Pacifica stops to take a photo after residents were...

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Linda Ducote helps a friend to move belongings after residents were ordered to evauate the apartment building at 330 Esplanade Drive in Pacifica, Ca. on Thursday December 17, 2009, as the cliff it is perched upon is slowly eroding leaving only 10 feet of land between the ocean and the structure.

Laurence Sjauwfoekloy helps a friend carry belongings from the building after residents were ordered to evauate the apartment building at 330 Esplanade Drive in Pacifica, Ca. on Thursday December 17, 2009, as the cliff it is perched upon is slowly eroding leaving only 10 feet of land between the ocean and the structure.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

Laurence Sjauwfoekloy helps a friend carry belongings from the...

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Lauren O'Brien and Laurence Sjauwfoekloy carry belongings from the building after residents were ordered to evauate the apartment building at 330 Esplanade Drive in Pacifica, Ca. on Thursday December 17, 2009, as the cliff it is perched upon is slowly eroding leaving only 10 feet of land between the ocean and the structure.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

Lauren O'Brien and Laurence Sjauwfoekloy carry belongings from the...

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Christine McClure carries a neighbors kitten from the apartment after residents were ordered to evauate the building at 330 Esplanade Drive in Pacifica, Ca. on Thursday December 17, 2009, as the cliff it is perched upon is slowly eroding leaving only 10 feet of land between the ocean and the structure.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

Christine McClure carries a neighbors kitten from the apartment...

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Moving vans are filled with belongins after residents were ordered to evauate the apartment building at 330 Esplanade Drive in Pacifica, Ca. on Thursday December 17, 2009, as the cliff it is perched upon is slowly eroding leaving only 10 feet of land between the ocean and the structure.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

Moving vans are filled with belongins after residents were ordered...

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An apartment building where residents are evacuating from is shown at top right in Pacifica, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009. A crumbling cliff is forcing residents of an apartment building atop a Northern California coastal bluff to flee over fears their homes could slide into the Pacific. Building officials in Pacifica ordered residents to leave by midmorning Thursday as large chunks of cliff plunged into the ocean, leaving just 10 feet between the 12-unit building and the cliff's edge. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Photo: Jeff Chiu, AP

An apartment building where residents are evacuating from is shown...

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People look toward an apartment building that is being evacuated in Pacifica, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009. A crumbling cliff is forcing residents of an apartment building atop a Northern California coastal bluff to flee over fears their homes could slide into the Pacific. Building officials in Pacifica ordered residents to leave by midmorning Thursday as large chunks of cliff plunged into the ocean, leaving just 10 feet between the 12-unit building and the cliff's edge. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Photo: Jeff Chiu, AP

People look toward an apartment building that is being evacuated in...

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A tarp covers a cliff in front of an apartment building being evacuated in Pacifica, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009. A crumbling cliff is forcing residents of an apartment building atop a Northern California coastal bluff to flee over fears their homes could slide into the Pacific. Building officials in Pacifica ordered residents to leave by midmorning Thursday as large chunks of cliff plunged into the ocean, leaving just 10 feet between the 12-unit building and the cliff's edge. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Photo: Jeff Chiu, AP

A tarp covers a cliff in front of an apartment building being...

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Residents evacuate from an apartment building in Pacifica, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009. A crumbling cliff is forcing residents of an apartment building atop a Northern California coastal bluff to flee over fears their homes could slide into the Pacific. Building officials in Pacifica ordered residents to leave by midmorning Thursday as large chunks of cliff plunged into the ocean, leaving just 10 feet between the 12-unit building and the cliff's edge. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Photo: Jeff Chiu, AP

Residents evacuate from an apartment building in Pacifica, Calif.,...

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Tim Modok, left, gets help from Dianne Budd in packing up his television as he evacuates his apartment building in Pacifica, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009. A crumbling cliff is forcing residents of an apartment building atop a Northern California coastal bluff to flee over fears their homes could slide into the Pacific. Building officials in Pacifica ordered residents to leave by midmorning Thursday as large chunks of cliff plunged into the ocean, leaving just 10 feet between the 12-unit building and the cliff's edge. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Photo: Jeff Chiu, AP

Tim Modok, left, gets help from Dianne Budd in packing up his...

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Residents evacuate from an apartment building in Pacifica, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009. A crumbling cliff is forcing residents of an apartment building atop a Northern California coastal bluff to flee over fears their homes could slide into the Pacific. Building officials in Pacifica ordered residents to leave by midmorning Thursday as large chunks of cliff plunged into the ocean, leaving just 10 feet between the 12-unit building and the cliff's edge. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Photo: Jeff Chiu, AP

Residents evacuate from an apartment building in Pacifica, Calif.,...

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Residents were ordered to evacuate the apartment building at 330 Esplanade Drive, (left) in Pacifica, Ca. on Thursday December 17, 2009, as the cliff it is perched upon is slowly eroding leaving only 10 feet of land between the ocean and the structure.

The owners of a seaside Pacifica apartment building that was evacuated Thursday had been applying for emergency permits to build a rock barrier at the base of an eroding bluff, but nature and high tides beat them to the punch.

Delfarid Fanine, co-owner of the 12-unit building at 330 Esplanade Drive, said the owners told tenants weeks ago that they were hoping to prevent the bluff from vanishing from under the apartments.

"Unfortunately, it all happened before anyone expected," Fanine said. "It's nature. No one can beat nature."

According to city officials and workers at the apartments, as much as 40 feet of land has disappeared at the property in the past year. Early Thursday, the bluff starting falling away in alarmingly large chunks, and city officials red-tagged the apartments.

The 20 or so tenants were told just before 11 a.m. that they had only minutes to leave, prompting a mad dash to save whatever they could. One resident flung belongings from a second-story window.

Then, a few minutes later, city officials decided the tenants could safely remove possessions until 3 p.m. Mattresses, couches, chairs and random items such as fishing poles and reading lamps lined the sidewalk.

Randall Nelson, the building manager who has lived there for 14 years, said he was upset about leaving. But he also said he understood when he moved in that along with the picturesque view came the possibility that the cliff wouldn't sit still.

Pacifica residents have long dealt with the challenges of living on the seaside bluffs.

In 1998, seven homes on Esplanade Drive were demolished after El Niño-powered storms ate away at the cliff upon which they stood.

Nearly all the shoreline in Pacifica is soft, compacted sand, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The weak soil, the direct attack of waves and the saturation from rainwater make the area especially susceptible to erosion.

The apartments were built in 1961. The bluff has been eroding for some time, but in the past two years the situation has grown much worse, officials said.

Tony Fortunato, a superintendent with Engineered Soil Repairs, estimated that the cliff had receded as much as 15 feet in recent days because of unusually high tides.

"They had a lot more real estate last year," Fortunato said. "A lot of it is in the ocean now."

He said his company will try to save the building in the coming days by using cranes to lower boulders into the cliff's base to create a rock wall, known as riprap.

Owners of buildings on either side of the apartment building inserted similar barriers last year. The cliffs there have withstood the recent high tides.

Amanda O'Connell, who moved into the apartments four months ago, said she received a letter from the owners last month that a barrier would be completed by Christmas and they would have nothing to worry about.

"Guess they didn't make it," O'Connell said while packing a car. She wasn't sure where she was going to live.

"I pretty much got entirely unpacked, just in time to be told it was time to start packing again," Wells said. "Of course I'm frustrated. I'm still in some degree of shock. I know that once the shock wears off, I'm going to feel a lot more anger."